The end of the year is near, and the Korean music industry is abuzz with news of upcoming awards shows that seek to recognize the most outstanding artists in a multitude of categories.

As a nod to these important events in the K-pop realm, allkpop has decided to initiate our first ever “allkpop Awards” this year, and we’re inviting fans from all over the world to determine the results!

That’s right – the votes will be 100% determined by international K-pop fans.

In order to ensure that the results are achieved in a fair manner, we’ve established a system in which votes can be submitted once a day per category via Twitter or Facebook.

Fans can vote as many times as they like over the course of the awards voting period, but again, only one vote per category per day will be counted.

We are aiming to make this an award that accurately represents the opinions of the international K-pop community, so check out the nominees below, and help decide K-pop’s best of 2010!

As the ceremony date for the “2010 Melon Music Awards” draws near, music fans will be delighted to hear that artists from all three companies – SME, YGE and JYPE – will be standing on one stage.

Representatives of Melon Music revealed that viewers can anticipate a meaningful ceremony because of the variety of confirms from different agencies. “We believe that artists confirmed their attendances because they trust the fairness of our awards show. It will be a highly meaningful ceremony, as artists will be giving back the love they’ve received from their fans all year long together.”

Many collaboration stages are under preparation, along with a cute surprise by ceremony host Song Joong Ki.

SNSD, 2AM, 2PM, 2NE1, T-ara, CNBLUE, IU, Lee Seung Ki, DJ DOC and 4Men have been chosen as the top 10 nominees for the “2010 Artist Award”, the winner of which will be revealed during the ceremony.

The 2010 YG Family Concert takes place this weekend, from December 4th – 5th at the Seoul Olympic Stadium, and 2NE1 member Park Bom has teased fans further with an update on her me2day.

Park Bom wrote on her me2day on December 4th, “This is actually Youngbae’s ‘Only Look At Me’ performance that I rehearsed to show at our concert. I worked really hard to make all of you laugh kekeke but due to the time limit, I won’t be able to show you. Instead, I rehearsed something from our Swi.T seniors…Eunju unni, anticipate it~~~*^^*”.

The above entry was accompanied by a short clip of Bom doing Taeyang’s ‘Only Look At Me‘.

A controversy has recently been surrounding the ‘2010 Yahoo Asia Buzz Awards’, as many fans are doubting the legitimacy of its online voting system.

Between November 8th and the 30th, Yahoo has been conducting an online poll for three categories:‘Korean Male Buzz Star’, ‘Korean Female Buzz Star’ and ‘Asia’s Buzz Star‘.

The problem that had caught the attention of sharp fans is that the poll results for some nominees had either taken a sharp rise or drop in a spontaneous fashion. For instance, in the ‘Male Buzz Star’ category, Jang Geun Suk’s poll results saw sharp rises and falls at a continuous rate, while a considerable number of votes for Kim Hyun Joong dropped unexepectedly.

Consequently, many netizens are suspecting the poll results to have a substantial error in voting calculations.

Fans have become even more angered by Yahoo’s lack of investigation on this matter, who merely called it a simple ’server error’. Netizens commented, “The globally acknowledged Yahoo doesn’t want to be humiliated in public, which is why they are ignoring the hard work of the fans”, “I want to rebuke Yahoo for their lack of action regarding this issue.”

Responding to such criticism, a representative of Yahoo Korea explained on December 2nd, “There was a problem with the server overloading, however, we have not been able to confirm a manipulation of the poll results. We are still inspecting the reasons behind these errors.”

They carefully continued, “We cannot reveal a correct set of poll results without fully completing our investigation. We cannot confirm anything for now.”

Meanwhile, according to the online poll results on the site, Jang Geun Suk ranked 1st place for the ‘Male Buzz Star’ category for this year’s ‘Buzz Awards’.

The 2010 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) was held overseas for the first time in it’s history, at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Hotel in Macau where a host of stars from Korea and around the world attended, with millions watching it live (or delayed) through tv broadcasts and online streaming sources.

Check out selected photos from the red carpet ceremony ahead of the awards ceremony below!

Recently, 2NE1’s Minzy showed off her photography skills to her me2DAY friends.

Minzy uploaded pictures of her fellow 2NE1 members with this note: ‘Everyone knows that I love taking pictures, right? I secretly took pictures of the other members… !! I’ll take this chance to show you some of these photos.‘

Minzy’s me2DAY friends commented on these sneaky pictures, saying, ‘It’s not easy to take good pictures indoors. You did really well!! You’re amazing~’ and ‘You’re a photographer!! You can do this when you finish your career as a singer.. They came out great.”

2NE1 will be ending their promotions on the November 20th broadcast of MBC’s ’Music Core‘.

2NE1 made their comeback on September 12th via ‘Inkigayo‘, through which they kicked off their promotional activities for ‘To Anyone’. Over the past 2 months, the ladies have broken many records and nabbed numerous awards for their songs, “Go Away“, “Clap Your Hands“, and “Can’t Nobody“.

Although their last performance will be on ‘Music Core’, 2NE1 will still perform these beloved songs at the ‘2010 MAMA‘, held on November 28th at the Venetian Resort in Macau. The girls will also participate in the ‘2010 YG Family Concert‘ for December 4th and 5th.

We’re sad to see these promotions end, but at the same time, we can’t wait to see what they’ve got up their sleeves for us next!

2NE1’s Sandara Park celebrated her birthday yesterday, and she’s just revealed the presents she’s received from her fellow members.

On November 13th, this cute idol expressed her gratitude through the official 2NE1 me2day, “Yesterday I received presents from the members. As expected, the members know best about the things I like most”. Dara posted pictures of some of her presents, including a hat, sneakers, training clothes and a t-shirt.

Dara also thanked the members as she wrote, “I will use these very well. Thanks guys.” For reference, Sandara was born on November 12, 1984.